Released as a four-part mini-series, airing on Amazon Prime instant streaming December 5th in the US.
Filming location(s) unknown.
The story: Journalist Tracie Egan Morrissey grew up knowing and loving Lisa Frank designs.
When she was a young teen, if you didn't have Lisa Frank items, you weren't cool.
A year or so ago, a friend of Tracie's was attending Grad school.
Tracie thought it would be fun to get her friend some Lisa Frank school supplies, but Tracie couldn't find any...
She began wondering what happened to Lisa Frank with all of her whimsical, out-of-this-world fantastic products and started doing some research.
What Tracie found was less than flattering. She found articles upon articles of lawsuits from contractors and former Lisa Frank employees.
Let us get back to the beginning, where it all started...
Lisa Frank grew up in Detroit, Michigan. She attended college in Tuscon, Arizona - majoring in Art Education.
Trying to make a living while attending school, Lisa began selling other artist's products.
She soon tried her hand at making jewelry and made some decent money, selling to high-end stores.
Not only was Lisa an artist but she was quite the savvy businesswoman.
After a while, Lisa realized that stickers were a very up-and-coming trend that she wanted in on.
In 1979, at 24, Lisa formed Lisa Frank Inc., starting her business by making stickers.
In 1981, Lisa began hiring illustrators.
She knew what kind of product she wanted to put out and she knew exactly who her audience was - pre-teen girls.
Lisa Frank Incs first big contract came in 1982, making a million from Spencer's Gifts.
Lisa herself did not create the art but she oversaw every bit of it.
She was seen as complicated and demanding but that also seemed necessary for the desired result.
In 1982, artist James Green got lucky and was hired when he beat another artist at making the Lisa Frank logo.
James became the first full-time artist in the company.
Right-hand man to Lisa and taking on the leadership role for the company, Lisa and James worked with each other on every aspect of the company.
By 1989, the company had begun making school supplies in a way no one else was making them.
Then came the 1990s and Lisa Frank Inc. only grew and grew, it even had two of its own retail stores in Tucson.
But some of the employees began feeling overwhelmed, underappreciated, and most definitely underpaid.
By 1994, Lisa and James were married.
Their first son was born in 1995. Their second in 1999.
After all of this, James began taking over running the company while Lisa worked from home, and soon, many employees began either leaving on their own or being fired from the company.
In the 2000s, the artwork shifted and it became less about unicorns and rainbows and more about the young girls who loved those unicorns and rainbows getting older.
This didn't sit with all the artists. But it worked for others.
To boot, the woman who was the head of human resources for the company began firing anyone for any one good reason she or James could think of.
While Lisa was at home with her children, James was left to run the company, along with the woman from human resources.
By 2005, James and Lisa's marriage was completely done and she wanted him out of her company completely.
From that point on, things were never the same.
The success was always there but Lisa Frank herself had changed and not for the better.
Stars Tracie Egan Morrissey, Patty Sjolin, James Green, Joshua Lakes, Rondi Kutz, Toni De Luz, Quentin Eckman, Megan Noli, Bailey Sarian, Phillip Cyr, Peter Georgotas, Jennifer Mara, Rhonda Rowlette, Christopher Glembotzky, Mary Sholl, Carly Mark, Jessica Romano, Carlos Terrazas
Directed by Arianna LePenne
Not Rated
DOCUMENTARY/HISTORY/BIOGRAPHY/SERIES/TV
"You don't treat the people that love you like shit!"
